Happy Halloween!

Witch -  Circa 1987

Wizard - Circa 1991ish?

Wizard and Bear - Circa 1991ish

Birthday Present - Circa 1993

Birthday Present and Little Red Riding Hood - Circa 1993

In honor of Halloween I thought I'd share some photos of me and my sister through the years. Our mom is awesome and made every single one of our costumes (dad helped too!). We had some pretty cool costume ideas, like the birthday present and the refrigerator (wish I had pictures of that one, it was awesome!) and my mom (and dad) helped turn our ideas into reality.

I have so many good memories of Halloween. First, there was the town Halloween parade (which is part of the reason we came up with some neat costume ideas) where we would parade around the high school auditorium and hope that the judges would award one of us with a trophy. Despite our well-executed costumes, neither one of us ever took home a prize.

Then there was Mischief Night, the night before Halloween. In the North, the night before Halloween means mischievous teens pull pranks like throwing rolls of toilet paper in trees, smashing pumpkins, spraying shaving cream on car windshields and pulling other pranks on friends and neighbors. Although my sister and I never participated in any of the mischief, it was always fun to wake up the next morning to see what had been done. We hated when the vandals got our pumpkins though.

The day/night of Halloween was always fun, too. At our house we had a scary green mask with a wrinkled, wart face and crazy, curly black and white hair we called Mr. Greenhead who we would dress in our parents old clothes and put out on our front porch.  When I was really young (see witch photo, circa 1987) my mom would take me trick-or-treating before she left for work in the late afternoon. As my sister and I got older, our dad would take us as soon as it got dark. We would bring back pillowcases full of candy, then dump out the contents on our living room rug and sort through every piece.

Now, Halloween isn't quite what it used to be. The people in my neighborhood don't usually leave their lights on for Trick-or-Treaters (much less decorate their houses), so at most we get 4-6 kids. Older kids are discouraged from Trick-or-Treating, and towns and neighborhoods decide when people should celebrate Halloween if it's during the week or on a Sunday. I'm thankful I grew up in a town that always celebrated Halloween and in a family that did fun Halloween activities together. I hope to continue the tradition when I have kids one day.

Happy Birthday America!

I have very fond memories of July 4. Growing up in Caldwell, NJ (population about 7,500) my family and I always attended the fireworks celebration on the football field of the town's only high school, James Caldwell High School. Families would bring blankets and picnic baskets, the concession stands sold hot dogs and hamburgers, and high school kids trying to make a buck would sell glow sticks and bracelets. It was definitely a family event.

The one thing I always loved about fireworks at the high school (and appreciate more now that I'm older) is that it was the one thing the whole town did together. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who didn't go. Maybe it's a small town thing. Now, living in Richmond, there aren't many events that evoke that small town feel. While there is no shortage of events all around and in the city, you won't find a bunch of people gathered on the lawn of Godwin High School to watch fireworks. Maybe it doesn't matter where you go to watch fireworks but I'm thankful I had a place that has left me with such fond memories.

On a more serious note, thank you to all of those who have, who are and who will continue to fight for our freedom. Your service has not gone unnoticed.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

I'm So Excited & I Just Can't Hide It

I normally don't wish time away, (life passes so quickly why would you want your days to go by faster?) but I have to admit, part of me is wishing it was August because I am absolutely ecstatic about my vacation with Brad to Stowe, Vt. Growing up, my parents rented a house on Long Beach Island, the nicer area of the Jersey Shore, for our family vacation. Every year, for probably almost 10 years, we would spend a week in August building sandcastles and collecting shells for our driveway-side business, Shell World. When we got a little older, my parents decided it was time to take more adventurous vacations and we spent two summers in Cape Cod, Mass. and two summers in Stowe, Vt. Aside the from the Jersey Shore, the vacations that have stuck with me were those to Vermont. Not only is the scenery breathtakingly beautiful, the weather is absolutely perfect - mid to upper 70s during the day, upper 50s to low 60s at night.

Back in April, I told Brad I wanted us to go on a vacation. Although we've been dating almost 7 years, this will be our first official vacation together. We've done long weekends together and vacations with friends, but this will be the first time we vacation alone for an entire week. Naturally, I said I wanted to go to the beach - I could work on my tan, take naps in the sun and work on my summer reading list (which by the way is quite short this year). Brad had other thoughts. He's not much of a beach bum and doesn't really enjoying laying out in the sun. If he does go to the beach he wants to play frisbee or do something more active. Naturally, the compromise hats had to come out.

After deciding on Vermont, I did some research and found a couple of great places for Brad and I to stay. We decided on the Green Mountain Inn which is on Main Street in the center of town. It has the charm and romanticism I was looking for and it's close to nearly everything we would want to explore. While we haven't put together any sort of formal itinerary (do you really need one on a vacation?), we have some activities in mind - biking the 5 mile trail through Stowe, visiting the Magic Hat brewery, taking a tour of Ben and Jerry's, taking a gondola ride up Mount Mansfield and hiking down, and exploring Toronto because Brad's never been to Canada. This morning when I had a few minutes at work, I decided to glance over the Inn's website. They had a whole page of activities, which of course got me super excited. I found some highly recommended hiking trails and learned there will be a fall festival the week we're in town sponsored by a local chocolate shop. There are wineries nearby, canoeing, dog sled rides (yes, even in the summer - they use carts!), etc. Gosh, I'm getting excited just typing all the great things we'll be able to do.

So now the countdown is on. Five weeks from Saturday we will have made the 12 hour (yes, 12 hour) drive from Richmond to Stowe (with a stop in Northern Virginia to drop off Delilah and a stop in Brooklyn, NY to break up the drive) and will be relaxing, maybe in the white wooden rockers on the porch or perhaps poolside with a drink in hand. More than likely though, you'll find us exploring every little bit of Stowe and enjoying every minute of it.

Thrill Capital of the Southeast

Brad and I spent the weekend in Greensboro, North Carolina with my sister Ariana and her boyfriend Kevin. Ariana lives in a cute little apartment on the north side of town, right down the street from who we think might be a Carolina Panther player - who else has a gate and gate code key pad and security cameras in their driveway?! Anyway, Ariana works for Sinclair Broadcasting and since one of their advertising clients is Carowinds, they offered employees free tickets to the park.

What's funny is that my sister really isn't in to roller coasters and they give Brad motion sickness, but they were both troopers and went on some of the rides. I prefer to ease into my roller coaster riding because I'm a bit of a baby about them sometimes, so we chose the Flying Ace Aerial Chase as our first ride. The Flying Ace is actually a kid's coaster despite it's 4 out of 5 thrill rating. Oh I forgot to mention, we met up with our friend Leah and her boyfriend Adam. Ariana and I have known Leah since we were in elementary school; our mom worked for her mom and our families have been friends ever since. It's been awhile since we've seen each other but just like any old friend, we picked up right where we left off like no time had passed in between.

Anyway, the line for the Aerial Chase wasn't long which was great because the heat was on, 90 degrees plus if you considered the heat index. The ride was actually pretty good for a mini coaster but it definitely jerked your head around more than I had anticipated. Thankfully neither Brad nor my sister got sick from it! After grabbing some much needed water and taking some pictures with Snoopy (see below), Kevin, Leah, Adam and I lined up for the Carolina Cyclone while Ariana and Brad went looking for sunglasses. The Cyclone was awesome but I whacked my head pretty hard on the overhead harness thing which did not feel good. Next up was the Hurler, a wooden coaster Ariana was really excited (and a little nervous) about. Since there is also a Hurler at Kings Dominion in Virginia, I knew what to expect (and it was fun!.

Leah, Ariana, Kevin and I met up with Brad and Adam after riding the Hurler and decided it was time to eat. As we started walking, Kevin told us he wasn't feeling well. Ariana and I, after waiting in line for at least 20 minutes, grabbed some Chick-fil-A and water and sat down in the shade to eat. Kevin, being the resourceful Eagle Scout that is he, took the Chick-fil-A bag and used it as a cold compress, pouring some of the ice from his water in to the bag and twisting it closed. A couple chicken nuggets and a few sips of water later and he was feeling much better.

After lunch, we rode the last two rides of the day - Ricochet and Carolina Goldrusher. It was actually Brad's idea to try out the Ricochet and I'm glad we did because it was a lot of fun. You sit in a car and go up, down and around on a track making you feel like you're going to fall off. They take your picture at the end and it was a great shot of Brad, Leah, Adam and I (Ariana and Kevin stayed in the shade for a bit longer) but I didn't feel like shelling out $10 to take it home. The last ride, Goldrusher, was awesome despite its deceptively cheesey train locomotive exterior.

I would have loved to ride the other great coasters at Carowinds but it was so hot after riding Goldrusher, we all decided it was time to call it a day. As we were leaving, we saw a girl wearing only a green and white bikini and a mom trying to remove a splinter or bee stinger from her daughters foot on the ground right in front of the women's restroom door. The people watching opportunities at Carowinds were top notch but I'll save that for another post. :)

Photos!

Ariana and I lovin' on Snoopy!

Brad and I as sexy beach-goers

Ariana, Brad, Kevin and I with some Peanuts characters